The African Development Bank (AfDB)-financed Incubation Centre of Excellence has opened its doors at the Pan African University Institute for Basic Sciences Technology and Innovation (PAUSTI), seeking to promote and drive innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship, and private sector linkages.
PAUSTI is a postgraduate hub of research and innovation, offering four masters and PhD programmes, which is hosted at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in Kenya.
AfDB division manager for education and skills development Hendrina Chalwe Dorobo
Financed by the AfDB, fthe PAUSTI Centre of Excellence (PAUSTI CoE) is a state-of-the-art centre and innovation hub that seeks to promote and drive innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship, and private sector linkages. It also seeks to accelerate the application of research and development, through technology and linkages with the private sector, to drive innovation and entrepreneurship on the continent.
The AfDB-funded Incubation Centre was set up in June 2021, and over the last seven months has supported innovators by conducting capacity-building sessions, providing business training and funding them with up to US$5,000. Twelve innovations were recently showcased to expose and link them to stakeholders that will be key in advancing their growth, either through funding or career opportunities.
AfDB division manager for education and skills development Hendrina Chalwe Dorobo lauded the innovators for building on their ideas and producing a working prototype ready for commercialisation. She said strong partnerships such as the one witnessed in running the Incubation Centre are vital in ensuring relevance and sustainability of the solutions being churned out by researchers and innovators.
“As the African Development Bank, we are committed to ensuring that innovations do not just gather dust but create value and enhance the socio-economic development of the continent,” she said.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
The African Development Bank has authorized the disbursement by SEFA of $ 20 million for the establishment of the CRP, a platform to support companies providing off-grid solutions through post-pandemic recovery. The Fund will have a total value of $ 50 million.
Akinwumi A. Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group
The African Development Bank has just approved an investment of $ 20 million for the establishment of the Covid-19 Off-Grid Recovery Platform (CRP). Funds disbursed through the Fund for Sustainable Energy in Africa (SEFA) will be added to the amount contributed by CRP partners, Triple Jump, Lion’s Global Partners and Social Investments Managers and Advisor.
Entities that are specialists in financial mobilization for the benefit of off-grid energy companies will provide equity with a combined value of between $ 30 million and $ 40 million.The objective of the platform is to support energy companies that market and deploy solar systems, mini-grids, clean cooking means and other decentralized energy solutions. This support will allow businesses to resume their activities after the slowdown caused by the pandemic while laying the foundations for a more inclusive and greener post-pandemic economic recovery.
“We are delighted to have been selected to co-manage the post-covid-19 recovery platform for the off-grid sub-sector. The platform allows fund managers like Lion’s Head to focus on what we do best – raising and deploying human and financial capital to enable the delivery of sustainable energy to people. most vulnerable communities while addressing issues raised by the coronavirus, such as funding in local currencies in a time of great uncertainty and volatility, ” said Harry Guinness, Executive Director of Off-Grid Energy Access Fund, l one of the SEFA funds.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
The Rwandan Ministry of Information Communication Technologies and Innovation has been awarded a grant of $150,000 by the African Development Bank (AfDB). This amount is dedicated to the Rwanda Coding Academy (RCA). It is a structure whose goal is the development of leading technological talents.
Rwanda Coding Academy
RCA welcomes high school students eager to pursue careers in coding and computer related trades. It provides them with lessons that can promote the acquisition of current skills. The stake is the stimulation of the digital economy which the government wants more and more dynamic.
AfDB Rwanda Coding Academy AfDB Rwanda Coding Academy
The $150,000 comes from the Rockefeller Trust Fund, which is administered by the AfDB. It will be used to finance several activities, including the purchase of computers and furniture for a modern innovation center. It is dedicated to excellence, connectivity, training of trainers and organizing career counseling appointments.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
Civil society organisations working to protect the environment in Africa have just sent an open letter to the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB). In this correspondence, the AfDB is asked to completely stop funding for polluting energies.
Akinwumi Adesina, president, African development bank
The African Development Bank (AfDB) must put in place a directive excluding the financing of fossil fuels, and publish it without delay on its website. This is the subject of an open letter from environmental civil society organisations to AfDB President Akinwunmi Adesina. The latter is called upon to sign a note from which his financial institution will no longer finance and provide financial and technical support to coal, gas and oil projects on the African continent.
As the continent’s main financial institution, the AfDB has already in the past adopted an approach to promote renewable energy, whose share of the portfolio in power generation increased from 14% between 2007 and 2011 to 70% between 2012 and 2017. However, given the climate emergency, reinforced by the barrier measures following the Covid-19 pandemic and the short time frame to reach the zero net emissions target, the Bank is called upon to make more efforts by formally and definitively disengaging itself from any current or future fossil fuel projects, and to move into the era of 100% renewable energy and sustainable development.
This call comes as a prelude to the “Finance in Common Summit”, which the AfDB will attend from 9 to 12 November 2020 in France. Organized by the French Development Agency (AFD), this summit will bring together for the first time all 450 public development banks of the planet to search for sustainable and solidarity-based investment solutions and methodologies to verify this. It will also aim to measure the impacts of the actions of these banks in the implementation of sustainable development objectives (SDOs).
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
A panel of some of Africa’s most promising small and medium-enterprise (SME) agripreneurs gathered online to call for more selective investment, accelerated business acquisitions and increased cooperation to help Africa feed itself and the world. The African Development Bank organized the virtual session, Integrating African Food Systems through the Lens of SME Champions, as a side-event ahead of Africa’s largest agriculture conference – the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) – which is being held online for the first time, from 8-11 September. Webinar moderator Atsuko Toda, Bank Director for agricultural finance and rural development, said the panel members, were selected because they are using innovative solutions, tailored their business models, have a proven track record, and shown to have an impact on food systems.
Atsuko Toda, Director for agricultural finance and rural development,AfDB
“We see the importance of the roles that you play, the risks you take and the Bank wants to give you more visibility so that policy makers can understand the challenges of what you are facing and help SME Champions to grow,” Toda said. The group of African “SME Champions” – heads of SMEs across the continent’s food system production, processing, logistics, agricultural digitization and cold storage chain solutions sub-sectors, set the scene for webinar attendees, by describing the challenges and opportunities they face in trying to meet Africa’s food systems demands. Some said policy, programs and financing in Africa are geared toward larger organizations and businesses – and that there is still too heavy a focus on agricultural imports to Africa.
“Especially if you are an SME it is really challenging to penetrate the market and do something significant,” said Nicholas Alexandre, Global Head of Commercial at LORI, a Kenya-based tech-driven logistics company.
Others shared their experiences in overcoming challenges. For example, Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu, head of Nigeria-based ColdHubs, says his solar power, cold storage facility company helps farmers’ produce stay fresher, longer, reducing the need to rush product to market at less competitive prices. ColdHubs says it invested in the storage infrastructure, so that farmers could benefit from the service at a reasonable price.
“We are taking the risk out of ownership of huge cold rooms from smallholder farmers because we design, operate and maintain these cold rooms. We offer a pay-as-you-use service model,” said Ikegwounu.
Kenya’s SunCulture company, which provides farmers with solar-powered irrigation services, also uses a similar “pay-as-you-grow” service fee program. SunCulture CEO and SME Champion Samir Ibrahim told webinar attendees that there has been sufficient development and investment support to African entrepreneurs to know what works – and that it is time to step up scaling up efforts. “We know that there are proven solutions, the focus now should be to target finance and partnerships to scale those…We need donors and multilaterals to start cutting much bigger checks for much fewer interventions…so we can see the needle moving,” Ibrahim said.
Other champions said building up Africa’s agriculture sector lies in building up its agriculture value chains. SME Champion Patricia Zoundi, who started up Canaan Land, a Cote d’Ivoire-based company that trains women in rural areas in order to develop sustainable and inclusive agriculture said, “We have north-north cooperation. We have south-south cooperation. Now it is time to have SME-to-SME cooperation…On this panel, I see three SMEs with which I can collaborate in marketing…[they offer] something I need in my value chain.”
Toda closed the session by reassuring SME Champions that their insights shared would be transformed into key messages intended to reimagine policy, resulting in the accelerated transformation of Africa’s food systems. “There is so much for us to share, proven solutions for us to amplify, to bring forward to scale and consolidate through partnerships and finance.”
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
For the first time in its 55 years history, the annual general meetings of the African Development Bank will take place virtually as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The event which will feature the Governors’ Dialogue will have a highpoint; the election of the president will be top of the agenda of the upcoming Meetings scheduled for 26-27 August 2020. This year, which marks the 55th meeting of the Bank’s Board of Governors and the 46th Annual Meeting of the African Development Fund (ADF), the Bank’s concessional arm, has the added significance of being an election year for the Bank’s president. The incumbent, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, is running as the sole candidate for a new five-year term.
Akinwumi Adesina, incumbent president, AfDB
Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the continent’s shores in early March, over 1,000,000 confirmed cases of the virus have been recorded in Africa. The pandemic has hit the region’s economies hard in the wake of falling commodity prices and containment measures by governments that have led to country lockdowns. For several months, the Bank has been extending support to regional member countries in cushioning their economies, health systems, and citizens’ livelihoods from parallel health and economic impacts from COVID-19.
In April 2020, The Bank established a COVID-19 Response Facility of up to $10 billion to extend flexible support to African sovereign and non-sovereign operations. As of August 20, $2.29 billion in CRF funding had been approved for ADB member countries. A further $1.186 billion has been disbursed to ADF member countries, with approvals ongoing.
In March, the Bank also raised a record $3 billion with a COVID-19 social bond floated on the London Stock Exchange. The institution reached some major milestones during the trying times of lockdown with both Fitch and Standard & Poor credit rating agencies reaffirming the Bank’s AAA rating with a stable outlook.
During the meetings, Governors are expected to receive updates on a range of Bank developments since the previous Annual Meetings held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea in June 2019. This will include the Bank’s seventh General Capital increase, which the Board of Governors approved in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire on October 31, 2019, and which increased the Bank’s capital base by a historic $115 billion to $208 billion. In December 2019, African Development Fund Donors pledged $7.6 billion, the fifteenth such replenishment, to help Africa’s poorest countries.
Top of the agenda for this year’s meeting would be the election of the President. The Governors will vote on August 27 to elect the eighth president of the Bank. Dr. Adesina, the first Nigerian to hold the post, was elected for a five-year term on May 28, 2015, by the Bank’s Board of Governors during that year’s Annual Meetings held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Bank Governors are typically the finance and economy ministers or Central Bank Governors of the 54 African regional member countries and 27 non-regional member countries.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
As the spread of Covid-19 across Africa grows, there are concerns that the continent may suffer great economic losses unless interventions aimed at mitigating impacts of the pandemic are launched across the board. This was behind the ongoing disbursement of millions of dollars from the African Development Bank of multi-country grant for COVID-19 response in Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone and also Ghana. The grant from the African Development Fund (ADF) aims to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 in The Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone, known collectively as the GLS countries – by providing budget support to help fund each country’s COVID-19 crisis response.
Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, AfDB’s Director General for West Africa
The multi-country grant comprises an ADF grant of UA 5 million and a TSF grant of UA 5 million to the Republic of The Gambia; an ADF grant of UA 10.15 million to the Republic of Liberia; and an ADF grant of UA 18 million to the Republic of Sierra Leone. Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone are countries in “transition,” with similar challenges regarding macroeconomic stability, fragility, competitiveness and growth. Liberia and Sierra Leone were severely impacted by the Ebola pandemic between 2014 and 2016, while The Gambia is undergoing a transition after the departure of President Yahya Jammeh in 2016.
Upon declaration of the first cases of COVID-19 in the three countries in March, they took urgent steps to put in place contingency plans to prevent and contain the virus. However, infection cases have been on the rise. As of 22 July, there were 146 confirmed cases in The Gambia; 1,114 cases in Liberia; and 1,731 cases in Sierra Leone. The direct beneficiaries of programmes financed by the grant will include vulnerable female-headed households, orphans, and school-going children. The business community, and targeted small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, will benefit from economic resilience support, while the population at large will be cushioned against the effects of the pandemic.
The multi-country grant falls under the framework of the Bank’s COVID-19 Response Facility of up to $10 billion, the institution’s main channel to cushion African countries from the economic and health impacts of the crisis.
Ghana on the other hand got $69 million grant to help upgrade the capacity of healthcare facilities to isolate, diagnose and care for patients, and provide more test kits, pharmaceuticals, equipment and beds. The grant from the ADF, the concessional arm of the African Development Bank will provide fiscal budget support to finance the government’s national COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan, and Coronavirus Alleviation Program.
Specifically, the funds will help to upgrade the capacity of healthcare facilities to isolate, diagnose and care for patients, and provide more test kits, pharmaceuticals, equipment and beds. It will also ensure adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers and support financial incentives and an insurance package for health and allied professionals.
Ghana ranks fourth in COVID-19 infections in Africa after South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria. As of 24 July 2020, the West African nation has recorded 30,366 cases of the disease, with 26,687 recoveries and 153 deaths. “Overall, the objective is to help contain the spread of the virus, expand testing and ease the impact of the virus on social and economic life, through measures aimed at protecting jobs, sustaining livelihoods and supporting small businesses,” said Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, the Bank’s Director General for West Africa.
The ADF grant is a Crisis Response Budget Support operation, disbursable in a single tranche under the Bank’s $10 billion COVID-19 Response Facility. The grant aligns with one of the Bank’s High 5 priorities, namely to “Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa”.
Under Ghana’s COVID-19 response program, all affected persons will receive free treatment and free water supply. Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs) will benefit from a soft loan scheme with one-year moratorium and two-year repayment period. The private sector will also benefit from a tax freeze and refund, direct subsidies and a guarantee fund, enabling businesses to access bank credit.
The program also aims to increase the percentage of the population tested from one percent to three percent by the end of December 2020, boost the number of points of entry reporting suspected cases of COVID-19 from 1 to 14 by the end of September 2020, and increase designated treatment centers with adequate intensive care facilities to 100% by end December 2020. As elsewhere, the pandemic has slowed down economic activity in the agriculture, industrial and services sectors. The agriculture sector, in particular, will likely record a lower performance since the disease has coincided with the onset of Ghana’s farming season.
The economy of Ghana, which exports gold, cocoa and oil, is negatively affected by a significant increase in public spending due to COVID-19. Real GDP growth is projected at 2.1% in 2020 compared to 6.1% in 2019, while the current account deficit is forecast to widen to 3.6% compared to 3% in 2019, due to a decline in export earnings and lower tourism revenues and remittances. The COVID-19 pandemic could also deepen inequalities between men and women, with far-reaching health, social, and economic implications, Bank officials noted.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Nigeria’s new Country Strategy Paper (CSP) 2020-2024, which builds on the successes and challenges of the 2013-2019 editions, and incorporates emerging developmental realities and opportunities shaping Nigeria’s political and economic landscape, including in the post-COVID-19 period has been approved by the African Development Bank (AfDB). According to the Senior Director for the African Development Bank in Nigeria Ebrima Faal who reaffirmed the institution’s support for Nigeria’s socio-economic advancement, added that “in the implementation of the CSP, the Bank will also support Nigeria to address economic shocks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and oil price shocks by focusing our interventions in sectors that will strengthen public health infrastructure and accelerate efforts towards economic transformation and diversification of export earnings and fiscal revenues from oil.”
Ebrima Faal, Senior Director for the African Development Bank in Nigeria
The 2020-2024 CSP identifies supporting infrastructure development and promoting social inclusion through agribusiness and skills development as key priority areas for Nigeria. These priorities have been selected to leverage Nigeria’s rich endowment of natural and human resources toward transforming the lives of its people. It is in this context that the new CSP has been customized to support government efforts in confronting challenges and to foster long-term, socially inclusive development. Under the CSP, the Bank will deploy a combination of sovereign and non-sovereign financing instruments to support the two priority areas, including investment and institutional support projects, evidence based analytical work in numerous economic sectors, policy dialogue and provision of advisory services. Special focus will be put on supporting the Nigerian private sector, in terms of financing and advisory services, and on Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) initiatives that enable innovative, long-term investment in energy, transport and water and sanitation.
The Strategy Paper is the result of participatory consultations with a range of key stakeholders, both state and non-state actors as well as bilateral and multilateral development partners. The CSP is fully aligned with the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy, the High 5 priorities and Nigeria’s own Economic Reform and Growth Plan (ERGP), as well as the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As of December 2019, the Bank Group’s active portfolio in Nigeria comprised 61 operations, with a total commitment of about $5 billion. Of the total active operations, 29 were in the public sector, with a commitment of $2 billion (43%) and 32 non-sovereign operations with a total commitment of $3 billion, equivalent to 57% of the total portfolio.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $10-million equity investment in Razorite Healthcare Africa Fund 1 (RHAF1) to help improve healthcare infrastructure delivery across the continent. The 10-year deal, approved on 26 February, will resource the Fund to address growing demands for affordable and quality healthcare services in several countries of Sub-Saharan Africa faced lack of access to low cost, first-class healthcare.
RHAF1, to be registered in Mauritius, will provide growth capital to operating healthcare infrastructure facilities which show high potential for growth, as well as build new facilities, where identified as necessary. To date, there have been over 9,000 cases of COVID-19 in Africa and over 500 deaths.
The Bank on 8 April unveiled a COVID-19 Response Facility that will mobilise up to $10 billion to assist regional member countries in fighting the pandemic. The Facility will be the institution’s primary channel for addressing the crisis.The advent of the Novel Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has highlighted the need to boost Africa’s healthcare infrastructure system to curb the spread of the pandemic and any future similar crises and build long term resilience. Healthcare-focused private equity funds in Africa with the capability to build equipment and an integrated eco-system across healthcare facilities and service providers are very limited. Target groups include low and middle-income class and vulnerable sectors.
The Fund is expected to increase bed capacity in Africa by over 1,500 and create over 500 jobs over its life span. It will also support the development of local enterprises and private infrastructure in the healthcare infrastructure sector. The Fund targets final capitalization of $100 million. The Bank expects its equity investment of $10 million to catalyze financing from other development finance institutions (DFIs) and commercial investors. As an advisory Board member, the Bank will ensure that the Fund and its portfolio of projects adhere to social, environmental and corporate governance best practices.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
The African Development Bank Group has debarred two Nigerian companies Beulah Universal Link Resources Limited for 36 months and Bluestream Systems and Device Limited for 12 months for misrepresenting their qualifications while participating in a tender for construction and rehabilitation of water reservoirs contracts.
According to an investigation conducted by the Bank’s Office of Integrity and Anti-Corruption, Beulah Universal Link Resources Limited and Bluestream Systems and Device Limited were found to have engaged in fraudulent practices through their joint bid submitted under the Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Improvement Project implemented in Oyo State of Nigeria.
The debarments render Beulah Universal Link Resources Limited and Bluestream Systems and Device Limited ineligible to participate in Bank-financed projects during the respective debarment periods. Additionally, the 36 month debarment of Beulah Universal Link Resources Limited qualifies for cross-debarment by other multilateral development banks under the Agreement for Mutual Recognition of Debarment Decisions, including the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank Group.
The Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Improvement Project is financed under the African Development Fund, an entity of the African Development Bank Group.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
